SonyE 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS | APS-C, Zoom, Super Telephoto Lens (SEL70350G)

A long lens was until now the only gap in my Sony system, and for a while I had my eye on one, notably this. When it came up on a lightning deal I couldn't delay any longer and took the plunge then and there and haven't looked back since.My 18-105mm has served me well as a walk around lens with an okay range, but it was limiting in situations like wildlife and sports particularly. I wanted a "proper" zoom and this is it, and with the APS-C sensor on the a6600 you're effectively getting 105-475mm, which is a bonus.It's nicely made, though heavy, and comes with a good sized hood and on-lens focus options and a focus hold. The zooming ring is quite a heavy turn I've found, though I'm used to it now.I've taken it out enough times now to get a good feel for performance and I'm impressed. Yes, a slow aperture is never ideal, but the bokeh when I choose that kind of shot is nice and you just have to get used to the lighting situations where it's performance will drop. I've found the sharpness to be very good from corner to corner and the stabilisation is a dream – where when zoomed to the max there's a huge difference when you slightly depress the shutter and witness the smoothness.The autofocus hasn't let me down either and I find the lens responds better than the 18-105. I'm getting much fewer out of focus images of birds for instance than I was getting with the 105. The bird photo I've uploaded here wasn't in great light at all but I was impressed with the results, even with it being my first time shooting at that length with subjects that quick!I was worried what the quality at 350mm was going to be like, but I'm impressed. With good lighting conditions it's excellent I'd say and there's even room to crop in further when processing. Overall I'm really pleased I took the plunge and bought this, as it completes the hole in my lens range and it performs for me brilliantly.

The media could not be loaded. Key qualities about this lens:- Portability (under 600gr, and very compact dimensions for such a telephoto 105-525 FF equivalent) which makes it easy to bring this lens along on hikes, travel, in a simple messenger bag: "The best camera is the one you carry"- Amazing Image Quality, which completely satisfies consummate pro photographers !- Very good OSS, tremendous help at the long end- Affordability- E-mountA little bit of background which might resonate with a number of hobbyists and enthusiasts who may have found themselves in my situation, and maybe help them avoid making the 'mistake' I made.I got into photography at end of 2019 after a trip to Colombia where I realised the photos from my smartphone, GoPro and Osmo Pocket, were underwhelming compared to my friend's dslr.At the time, as a total beginner, after learning the basics about the exposure triangle and watching countless Youtube reviews about cameras, I chose a Canon M50 instead of a Sony A6400. Key reasons: ergonomics, simple menus, touchscreen, brand reputation and price. After building up a decent lineup of lenses (11-22, 22, 18-150, the sigma trio) and even upgrading to the M6 mk ii, I really enjoyed my kit and took a lot of nice photos.But now that I caught the bug and really enjoy this hobby, I found myself wanting more and more reach for wildlife, sports and even for landscape and street photography. I also noticed that most of my photos were at the longer end. I went from taking more wide angle pictures, to better subject isolation and composition, as well as really appreciating the background compression longer focal lengths create. As a result, my 150mm max focal length was starting to show its limits. I also started to be disappointed with how soft the photos were compared to my sigma 56 f1.4.So I investigated for a while the various options for telephoto lenses, with non-negotiable criterias for my use case: price, portability and IQ. Unfortunately the choice for the ef-m mount just doesn't exist, and won't since Canon has now killed this very convenient and promising system. Adapting EF glass is impractical and defeats the purpose of owning and carrying a small compact apsc setup. I quickly realised I didn't want to carry my sigma EF 18-35 f1.8 once I got the ef-m 16 f1.4. So adapting either the heavy and bulky sigma 100-400 or 150-600 was a no go.I therefore found myself realising I would need to look at other bodies and good lenses that would match them: after watching a lot of content, I landed on either going- Canon RF with the R10 + the excellent compact and light RF 100-400- or Sony with the a6400 (or ZV-e10) + this amazing 70-350After watching one of my favourite wildlife bird photographer notice some AF issues with the R7 and R10, and also knowing that I really wanted the sigma 18-50 f2.8 as my main mid-range lens, which only exists for the E-mount; I was already leaning Sony. Then Canon announced recently they were not going to let 3rd party lens manufacturers develop affordable good quality lenses for the RF mount. This sealed the deal for me.So here I am 3 years later, full circle. I would have saved myself quite a bit of money and frustration by getting that A6400 from the very beginning.My conclusion for any enthusiast getting into this hobby: it's ALL about the lenses ! Ignore any fanboy/partisan brand debate except for the reliability of AF (which is really important indeed). Ignore any road map, rumours of lens release: only trust the ones already available on the market for your needs.And if your budget is under £1k and you want an excellent portable APS-C telephoto, there is essentially no competition with this 70-350. It's the best in the market ! And since it's an E-mount, it will mount perfectly on a full frame body in the future if I feel the need to. This lens is an absolute keeper.Here are a few jpegs straight out of camera with no edits.

This is an excellent lens offering a good telephoto range. Images produced are sharp. Zoom mechanism is smooth. In relation to the cameras it is designed for, the lens is quite heavy and not as balanced when fitted as a DSLR with comparable telephoto lens which I use. However, you get used to using a larger, heavier lens on the Sony a model cameras in time.

Brilliant, compact, high reach lens. Giving you an equivalent 525mm Full Frame alternative. You have a couple of small compromises for this. Firstly, it's a variable aperture, so you will need to be okay with that. Secondly, this is an APS-C focused lens and is not compatible with the teleconverters.If you're looking for something similar in size, with a fixed aperture and teleconverter compatibility, the SEL70200G2 (F4 Macro) is a good option.Otherwise, the fast motors making focusing super easy, and a great leans for general wildlife photography too. Clean, sharp images, good colours. First picture I took was of the moon, and it's still a favourite from the lens.

This lens is amazing value for money, especially at the reduced price offered during the Prime promotion. It's an apsc lens and works well on my Sony A6000, very sharp and the OSS is superb, I've shot hand held at 1/50 sec with no problem. On my full-frame A7Rv this lens makes a great lightweight set up and still gives you 26MP in apsc mode but surprisingly it can be used in full-frame mode with no vignetting at the low end of the focal length, even at 350mm only modest cropping is needed to remove the corner darkening. So pleased I purchased this.

Nice images clean can be soft but it’s not a fast lense so good and crisp at distance good for video too

Perfect and essential.

Multiply focal length by 1.5 for the a6X00 series